Poultry-feeder.



G. G. BACON.

POULTRY FEEDER.

APPLICATION IILED Mums, 1912.

1,046,938, Patented Dec. 19 1912.

Suva/whee G. Bacoy COLUMBIA PLANOURAIHICO WASHINGTON, D. c.

GEORGE G. BACON, OF SOLON, OHIO.

POULTRY-FEEDER. V

Specification of Letters Patent.

Application filed March 19, 1912.

Patented Dec. 10, 1912. Serial No. 684,846.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE G. BAooN, a citizen of the United States, residing at Solon, in the county of Cuyahoga and State of Ohio, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Poultry-Feeders, of which the following is a specification.

This invention relates to poultry feeders, and is designed to provide a device of this character which will necessitate a certain amount of labor on the part of the fowl to obtain the food.

One of the objects of this invention is to provide a feeder which will deliver the food proportionately to the amount of energy eX- pended by the fowl, the flow of the food being regulated.

With the above and other objects in View, the invention consists in the construction, arrangement and combination of parts all as will hereinafter be more fully recited and pointed out in the claims.

In the drawings, Figure 1 is a front elevation of a feeder constructed in accordance with the present invention, and Fig. 2 is a central vertical section thereof.

In carrying out the present invention, a hopper is provided having a delivery spout at its lower terminal. A horizontal transverse tube is connected to said delivery spout by a slot and bayonet connection. A wire bent to form a. rectangle, is mounted, having one side contained within said tube, said portion of the Wire contained within the tube being bent to form a helical coil sprlng. A depending bar is carried by the tube aforesaid, and has a rigid wire pivotally connected thereto, said wire being rigidly secured or attached to the lower section of the wire operating within the tube. The lower terminal of the rigid wire carries a corn-cob or other suitable attachment for the fowl, for the purpose of creating a pivotal movement on the part of said wire, thereby reciprocating the coil spring in the tube aforesaid and delivering the feed passing over the hopper into said tube and terminals thereof. A disk is mounted at each terminal of the coil spring and operates into and out of the tube, thus regulating the flow of the feed, as will hereinafter be more fully described.

Reference being had more particularly to the drawings, 10 is a hopper of any suitable material having a tapered base 11 opening into a delivery spout 12. The upper terminal of the hopper 10 is provided with a suitable lid 13 and a bail 14 through the instrumentality of which it is suspended for the purpose hereinafter more fully described.

A horizontal delivery tube 15 is secured to the spout 12 by means of an auxiliary tube 16 which is centrally secured to the tube 15 and at right angles thereto, said tube 16 being secured upon the interior of the tube 12 by means of a bayonet slot and pin connection 17. Diametrically disposed to the tube 16 and carried by the tube 15, is a vertical bar 18 which supports the feeding mechanism as will be hereinafter more fully set forth.

A wire 19 having a base portion 19 and vertical arms 19 is suspended from the tube 15 through the instrumentality of a helical coil spring 20 formed between the arms 19*. This coil spring is contained entirely within the tube 15 and is adapted to carry the feed from the center of said tube to the open terminals thereof.

A rigid wire operating lever or bar 21 is pivoted to the lower terminal bar 18 by means of a pin 22 and is wound about the base portion 19 of the wire 19 as at 23 to rigidly connect the wire operating lever 21 t0 the base portion 19 and consequently the wire 19. The lower terminal of the wire 21 is bent upwardly to form a hook 24 adapted to hold a corn-cob thereon.

The coil spring 20 is a continuation of one of the arms 19 and is secured to the upper terminal of the opposite arm 19 by means of a hook 26 formed in the terminal of said coil spring engaging an eye formed in the upper terminal of the vertical arm 19*. In this manner a rectangular frame is formed which may be detached from the entire mechanism if desired. At each terminal of the coil spring 20 is a straight portion 28 formed from the wire 19 upon which is mounted a disk 29 said disk operating in the terminals of the tube 20. These disks 29 are rigidly secured to the straight portions 28 and regulate the flow of the feed.

From the foregoing construction it will clearly be seen that as a fowl picks the cob 25 an oscillatory movement will be imparted to the lever 21 which will cause the arm formed with the wire 19 to oscillate, due to the rigid connection between the lever 21 and the base port-ion 19 This oscillation on the part of the frame formed by the wire 19 will cause the spring 20 to reciprocate within the tube 15 and carry the feed deliver-ed centrally into said tube by the conduittormed by the combination of the spout 12 and the tube 16, to the terminals or" said tube 15. This reciprocation of the spring 20 causesv the disk 29 to operate into and out of the terminals of the tube 15, thus alternately delivering the feed or grain from the terminals of said tube. The greater the amount ot'force applied to the lever 21, the greater the reciprocation of the coil spring 20, and consequently the disks 29, thus increasing the amount of feed delivered.

Having thus fully described my inven tion, what I claim and desire to secure by Letters-Patent of the United States, is:

1. Ina poultry feeder, the combination with a hopper, of a horizontal delivery tube detaehably carried thereby and a coil spring mounted for reciprocation in said delivery tube, and means for reciprocating said coil spring.

2. In a poultry feeder, the combination with a hopper, of a horizontal delivery tube detachably carried thereby and a coil spring mounted for reciprocation in said delivery tube, a bar carried by said tube, a lever pivoted to said bar, and a connection between said lever and said coil spring whereby the latter may be reciprocated upon the oscillation of said lever.

3. In a poultry feeder, the combination with a hopper, of a horizontal delivery tube detachably carried thereby, a coil spring mounted for reciprocation in said delivery tube, a bar carried by said tube, a lever pivoted to said bar, and a wire bent to rectangular form connection between said coil spring and said lever whereby the former may be reciprocated upon the oscillation of the latter.

4. In a poultry feeder, the combination with a hopper, of a horizontal delivery tube detachably carried thereby, a coil spring mounted for reciprocation in said delivery tube, a bar carried by said tube, a lever pivoted to said bar, a wire bent to rectangular form connection bet-ween said coil spring and said lever whereby the former may be reciprocated upon the oscillation of the latter, and means whereby the flow of feed may be regulated.

5. In a poultry feeder, the combination with a hopper, of a horizontal delivery tube detachably carried thereby a coil spring mounted for reciprocation in said delivery tube, a bar carried by said tube, a lever pivoted to said bar, a wire bent to rectangular form connection between said coil spring and said lever whereby the former may he reciprocated upon the oscillation of the latter, and a disk carried by the terminals of said coil spring adapted to operate into and out of the terminals of said tube.

In testimony whereof I aflix my signature in presence of two witnesses.

GEORGE Ur. BACON. \Vitnesses J. H. BROWN, J AY AIrnNs.

Copies of this patent may be obtained for five cents each, by addressing the Commissioner of Patents, Washington, D. C. 

